Yemen's president appoints new central bank governor

Updated 8:09 am, Monday, February 12, 2018

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's state-run TV says President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has appointed a former finance minister as the head of the country's Central Bank, based in the southern city of Aden.

The report late Sunday said that Hadi replaced the Central Bank Governor Mansr al-Qaiti, who has accused a Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in the country of "strangling the Yemeni economy," with Mohammed Zammam.

For nearly three years, the Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen against the Iranian-allied rebels, known as Houthis, after they overran the capital Sanaa and forced Yemen's government into exile.

The rial, trading at 500 to the dollar, has almost lost half its value since the war began in March 2015.

The war has killed more than 10,000 civilians and pushed millions to the brink of famine.